Their ears can cool their body by up to 5° Celcius (that is 9° Fahrenheit)! Experiment time: They allow the excess body heat to escape the elephant’s body and regulate their body temperature.Īnother reason why they have big ears is to use their ears as fans to cool off their bodies. These vessels are thin and close to the skin. Thousands of blood vessels make up the animal’s ears. Luckily, they come with a built-in solution: big, floppy ears. Unlike the human body, the animal body cannot sweat to keep him cool. They must have a very efficient way to get rid of their extra body heat. They are huge, which means they produce a lot of body heat. Therefore, they have big ears to help them stay cool. On the other hand, Asian elephants live in shady forests where they do not see sunlight. African elephants live in extreme temperature environments and savannas and need protection from the sun. The reason why Asian and African elephants have different ear sizes has to do with their habitats.
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On the other hand, the ears of the Asian elephants are round shape. They resemble the shape of the African continent. The ears of African elephants can grow six feet (1.82 m) and 4 feet (1.21 m) wide.
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How old was trunks skin#
Why do elephants have big ears?Įlephants’ ears are one of the ways to tell the difference between African and Asian elephants.Īsian elephants have smoother skin and smaller ears than African Elephants. Animals that do not have tusks survived because they do not appeal to the poachers. Animals with tusks that have the genes to grow tusks are removed from the population by poachers. Fifty percent of male elephants in the Asian population do not grow tusks at all. Due to the extent of the poaching of elephants, the big-tusk gene has vanished from the population. In the past, elephant tusks regularly weighed in at more than 200 lb (91 Kgs). Poachers kill 20,000 elephants per year for their tusks and trade them illegally in the international market. Moreover, the only way that humans can get hold of their tusks is by killing them. Since Ivory is the most highly prized material in the natural world, its demand has led to the deaths of thousands of elephants across Africa. Humans are attracted to the beautiful tusks of elephants. Why are elephants evolving to be tuskless? The dominant tusk gets wear and tear from frequent use.īoth male and female African elephants have tusks, while only male Asian elephants, and only a certain percentage of males today, have tusks. Just as humans are left or right-handed, elephants, too, are left tusked or right tusked.